While I was at home, I was wondering what it’s like to be far away from my family and my home county. I pictured the image of living in someone else’s house for years, and how it would be like. I went up and asked a housemaid named Arlene, what it is like to have a job like this. She answered me with sadness in her voice that she had no other choice than this job.
She did not complete her education and she needed to work in order to support her family. She was from Philippines, and she was going through relative poverty. They had the money to eat and drink but not enough money for other needs. I asked her what she did with the salary as soon as she received it; she said that she would send it to her family immediately. She wouldn’t even save one riyal for herself; she is sacrificing her life in order to support her family.
She said that in her home country that they have a lot of social inequality. People are treated differently according to their wealth and where they stand in the society. She implied that they do not have any wealth in Philippines and there are not many job opportunities. This is why she came to Doha, to get a job. The salary she receives in Doha is much more than what she would receive in the Philippines. She says that Philippines is a cheap country, and the money they get from their salary which is around 800QR is a good amount for support.
I asked Arlene if the work sometimes affects her physical health. She said that it definitely does, by the end of the day she gets extremely exhausted and just wants to sleep. Working as a maid also affects her mental health
she says. She has a lot of emotional breakdowns because she misses her children too much.
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